Music

When Elle King and Variety last met, the Los Angeles-born-and-bred singing, songwriting, banjo-playing shouter had just commenced a 2018 tour for the (then) recently released “Shake the Spirit” album. While King’s rough, poppy debut album, 2015’s “Love Stuff” and its top 10 single “Ex’s & Oh’s,” earned her two Grammy nominations, her ragged voice and

On “The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim Shady,” a new tag-team single with Kid Cudi, Eminem slams New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, police violence and offers some characteristically intricate rhymes about the coronavirus pandemic, George Floyd, protests and the messed-up state of the world. In a dig most likely inspired by Brees’ comments

In the wee hours of Friday, Twitter lit up with people enraged that they couldn’t listen to the just-released posthumous Juice WRLD album and other new releases on Spotify. While the streaming giant sent out its customary “Something’s out of tune. We’re currently investigating, and we’ll keep you posted here!” tweets, which it most recently

You can take the girl out of the country, and maybe you can also take the country out of the girl. Or perhaps that’s taking it a bit far, but Margo Price isn’t paying undue fealty to the traditional country feel that first brought her to the dance now that she’s on her third album.

In a new interview with Vulture, Anita White, aka Lady A, the Seattle singer who was sued this week by the country group that is also calling itself Lady A, says she now believes the band was not acting in good faith during what initially seemed like positive and fruitful negotiations in June. “I think

Live Nation Entertainment has been sued by a furloughed executive, Candace Newman, who alleges that she was retaliated against for complaining about race and gender discrimination in the workplace, then cut loose with coronavirus-related staff reductions cited as the excuse. “This case epitomizes the issue at the heart of the Black Lives Matter movement —

New Jersey-born, Atlanta-bred artist Russ first came onto the scene in 2015 with the track “What They Want,” an underground hit that led him a major label deal with Columbia Records and the release of his platinum-certified debut, “There’s Really a Wolf.” But it was a major cosign from Rihanna, who shouted out his “Best

UPDATED: Malibu Entertainment, a company connected to Jay-Z’s Tidal streaming service, was among the businesses applying for and accepting Paycheck Protection Program loans for between $2 million and $5 million, according to documents released by the Small Business Administration and Treasury Department; a source close to the situation tells Variety the loan was for $2.1

Most pop producers pine for a proverbial “big break,” and for Yonatan Goldstein, who goes by Johnny Goldstein, they don’t get much larger than co-production credit on 12 out of 15 tracks from the Black Eyed Peas’ buzzing “Translation” album including breakout hit “Mamacita” featuring Ozuna and J. Rey Soul. The Epic Records release boasts

It looks like English songwriter and pop star Natasha Bedingfield, who released her fourth, 18-track Linda Perry produced studio album (“Roll With Me”) last year, is rolling out of L.A.’s Hollywood Hills, putting an almost $2.25 million price tag on a canyon- and city-view Mediterranean villa on a high ridge above L.A.’s Beachwood Canyon and

Five suspects have been arrested for the murder of rapper Pop Smoke in February, the Los Angeles Police Department announced Thursday morning. “LAPD Detectives have arrested three adult males & two juvenile males related to the Feb 19th murder of Bashar Jackson, a New York based rapper known as Pop Smoke,” the LAPD HQ account

“Collaborating with a composer who is iconic was something else,” marvels Paul Leonard-Morgan of working with Phillip Glass on Amazon’s “Tales From the Loop.” The two composers tinkered around with musical ideas while Leonard-Morgan visited Glass in New York and “it was just an organic place from there.” The music for the series set in

A new photo and poster effort called Bring Music Home (BMH) has been launched, in an effort to document and raise funds for the hundreds of music venues across the U.S. that have been financially devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. The funds will benefit the recently formed National Independent Venues Association (NIVA), which is working

“Finally, the voice known around the world tells her own story — unrestrained.” Just in time for the 30th Anniversary of Mariah Carey’s debut album comes a first memoir by the singer, songwriter and actress who will release “The Meaning of Mariah Carey” on Sept. 29. The book, written with Michaela Angela Davis, will be

The Rolling Stones have announced a deluxe edition of their 1973 album “Goats Head Soup,” a 4-CD boxed set with 10 unreleased tracks and a full concert from the same year. The set is due on Sept. 4. The unreleased tracks include the long-bootlegged outtake “Criss Cross” — which you can hear now below —

Warner Music Group announced today that industry leader Eric Wong is joining the company as President & Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Warner Recorded Music, effective August 17. Wong, who is currently Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Island Records, will continue to be based in New York and will report to Max Lousada, Warner Music Group’s

UPDATED: The Recording Academy announced that it has extended membership invitations to more than 2,300 established music professionals. As part of the organization’s stated drive toward greater diversity, it notes that the 2020 class of invitees is 48% female, 21% African-American or African descent, 8% Hispanic, 3% Asian-American and Pacific Islander and 5% “other.” The

The battle over the use of the name “Lady A” ratcheted up Wednesday with a lawsuit from the country trio formerly known as Lady Antebellum against Anita White, the singer who also goes by Lady A, asking a Tennessee court to declare that both artists can use the moniker going forward. Among the more interesting

For Jackie McGuire, CEO and founder of production company Rave Family, music has always felt like more than a hobby. But with a burgeoning career in finance, McGuire settled for attending any EDM festival she could to blow off steam – until an opportunity fell into her lap during the inaugural year of Camp EDC

Metallica and longtime co-manager Cliff Burnstein are among the parties involved in an intellectual-property acquisition venture that is being headed up by former longtime Morgan Stanley investment banker Paul Donahue, two sources close to the situation confirm to Variety. The source emphasized that the venture, which is called Worldwired Music IP Fund and will have

A year and a half after launching in India, Spotify will enter another fertile market: Russia. As first reported by Music Business Worldwide, and confirmed by Variety via sources, July 15 will mark the Swedish streaming giant’s 80th territory, home to nearly 100 million smartphones. Per MBW, Spotify is expected to partner with Russian telco

Ringo Starr is one of the few stars to take his birthday celebrations public every year — with in-person and online recitations of his “peace and love” mantra at an appointed hour — and he did not let the pandemic dissuade him from making his 80th a shared experience. In lieu of his usual gathering

The 35th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be replaced with an exclusive HBO special due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it was announced today. It is the first time in history that the ceremony has had to be canceled. Earlier this year, Depeche Mode, the Doobie Brothers, Whitney Houston, Nine

The trio formerly known as the Dixie Chicks — now just the Chicks — say in a newly published interview with the New York Times that they considered their name “stupid” and had long wanted to change it before doing so in June amid a national reconsideration of Confederate symbolism. “We were literally teenagers when

Kanye West backed off of his support for President Trump, claimed he had a bout with Covid-19 in February, talked at length — if vaguely — about his own presidential campaign, slammed presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and plenty more in a sprawling four-hour interview with Forbes that published early Wednesday. He also shared his

Garth Brooks’ recent success as a drive-in movie attraction is begetting an entire summer series. Encore Live is using the sellout business that Brooks’ filmed concert did at many of the more than 300 outdoor locations where it was presented June 27 as the springboard to launch an entire series, to be presented under the

“American Idol” finalist and contemporary Christian singer Chris Sligh has COVID-19 and has developed pneumonia. Sligh, who finished tenth on the 2007 season of “Idol,” shared a picture of himself in a Nashville-area healthcare facility on Instagram late Monday, but was back at home Tuesday night. Sligh began exhibiting symptoms in late June that worsened

Sony/ATV Music Publishing announced the signing of Bobby Sessions to a global co-publishing deal. The rapper and songwriter is credited with co-writing Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage Remix” featuring Beyoncé, as well as Meg’s new single “Girls in the Hood.” A fellow Texas native, Sessions (pictured at right) signed a recording deal with Def Jam in

Kanye West’s Yeezy wasn’t the only musician’s business taking a PPP loan, according to documents from the Small Business Administration and Treasury Department: Guns N’ Roses, the Eagles, Pearl Jam, Green Day and many other touring musicians took out loans as well. The news was first reported by Rolling Stone. The financial support, which is

Justin Timberlake, a native of Tennessee, has called for the removal of Confederate monuments throughout the country. In an Instagram post on Monday, he wrote, “America was built by men who believed in and benefitted from racism. … [and] those men who proudly owned and abused Black people are STILL celebrated all over the country.”